Kirk Bowman and I sat down to discuss applying value pricing in software and technical work. Throughout the interview I underscore the importance of value in what we do, regardless of the type of business we’re in. Value pricing is a natural extension of that commitment to value. The interview was split into two parts: Part 1 – Why Value…
Month: October 2014
Four styles of business and software development
There’s only one sustainable model of business, it’s being in the upper right hand quadrant where both the provider and buyer profit. Especially in the long term. And the best way to ensure this in the long term is to make it the case in the short term. A checklist to increase the likelihood of falling into the upper right…
Four styles of business
How would you feel if you provided a product or service and your customer lost money? How would you feel if you purchased a product or service and your provider lost money? How would you feel if you both lost money in the process of transacting business? What if you both made a profit? Business is oversimplified when it’s framed…
Planting seeds of knowledge
Exposure learning is great for understanding the big picture. To understand concepts and benefits without delving into details that will be forgotten. To survey the landscape. Ideally you’ll walk away with benefits in mind and some understanding of when you can apply the concepts to attain said benefits. But that’s not always the case. And it need not be. Much…
Exposure learning – the big picture
Effective learning requires a multifaceted approach to avoid a learn-lose cycle of knowledge acquisition. Not every opportunity to learn requires the same technique. Recognizing the different ways you learn gives you the ability to fine tune your approach. Not recognizing the different ways means you’ll likely blend techniques and experience sub-optimal results. You might be in a learn lose cycle…
Strategic learning
Anyone with a modicum of passion for learning can become overwhelmed managing all the directions their mind would like to take them. You need a strategy if you want to manage your learning. Otherwise, your learning will likely manage you. Take a minute and think about three learning situations from the last month. Situations where you acquired knowledge. For each…
Defining quality
Mike Cohn recently asked the following question: Is quality best thought of as “conformance to requirements?” Or “fitness for use?” Or perhaps something else entirely? -Mike Cohn This subject is important because all too often the industry of software development thinks quality comes from the software itself. That would be the camp of people that think conformance to requirements is…
The primary cause of defects in software
Defects in software have always been and will always be a subject of interest. And it’s not just software. Every industry is obsessed in some way with defects. Software development has evolved a plethora of techniques to identify and eliminate defects. Practices to find out about defects quickly. And practices to hopefully avoid introducing defects. Unfortunately many of the practices…
Streamlining your landfill
I was talking with a good friend the other day about priorities and demands within organizations. He expressed frustration with the amount of his time that has to be dedicated to work that is clearly not worthwhile. Or the worth hasn’t been made apparent. He said, and we’ve all done this, that he tries to streamline the process so that…
Investing in seven figure software, tip #2
So you have an idea for creating your own seven figure software. Or you’d just like to know what comes next. Maybe you have a vague idea of what you’d like to create. Perhaps you’ve taken a few steps down the path of what may be involved to make the idea a reality. You might even have some requirements or…